


Like Smoke

by nealinor



Series: ABO Bingo Round 3 [16]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Castiel/Omega Dean Winchester, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Firefighter Dean Winchester, M/M, Major Character Injury, Photographer Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 06:26:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16299839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nealinor/pseuds/nealinor
Summary: Dean goes on a call that Castiel is hired to take pictures of for the paper. Castiel learns what it means to fear for Dean.





	Like Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> Square Filled: Destiel
> 
> Many thanks to mljmorris for the suggestion for this fic!  
> Here are the proceeding fics in order:  
> [ Just Add Kittens](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943235)  
> [ Quarter Past Midnight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16003283)  
> [ Hunger](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009997)  
> [ For a Ride](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16125752)  
> [ Perfect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16146497)  
> [ Naughty Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16286441)  
> [ Thanksgiving](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298981)
> 
> Enjoy!  
> ~Neal

_Dean: Entertain me Alpha, I’m bored._

Cas had looked at the text immediately when it came in because he’d guessed it was from his omega largely because his brother wasn’t talking to him after missing Thanksgiving a week ago. He smiled at the words because they were common for his omega to send him when he was on shift.

_Me: How should I entertain you, my Omega?_

_Dean: Send nudes, lol._

_Me: I don’t know about that, Dean._

_Dean: And you say that you love me._

_Me: I do love you but what if someone looking over your shoulder sees said nudes? I don’t want the whole firehouse to know what my knot looks like._

_Dean: Gonna pop a knot for me? Now that’s what I’m talking about._

_Me: Dean…_

_Dean: Come on, Alpha. I promise I’ll even leave the day room._

Cas sighed as he felt he was losing the argument, as much as he didn’t want to take a picture of himself nude. With a wry smile, he bent over and tugged off a sock, took a picture of his foot and sent that to Dean. Dean replied by sending a string of frowny face emojis. Cas sent him back a string of heart emojis.

_Dean: Please Alpha._

_Me: Dean, it’s not like you can do anything with them where you are._

_Dean: I’ll enjoy them as much as I can. Please?_

_Dean: I’m kidding, Cas. Don’t send me anything you aren’t comfortable with._

Cas breathed a sigh of relief. That was more like the Dean he knew.

_Me: Thanks, Dean. I’ll take nudes for you… just not with my cell phone. I promise._

_Dean: Hold that thought, Alpha. We’ve got an alarm. TTYL._

Cas sighed and tried not to think about what an alarm meant for Dean. He found himself hoping it was an emergency call that didn’t involve a fire and then he felt guilty about wishing harm on someone else. He slunk to the kitchen to make himself dinner and ended up staring into the refrigerator before he decided that he wasn’t hungry. As he closed the door to the fridge, his cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Castiel? This is Zachariah from the Daily Times. Do you have time to take some pictures for us? There’s a fire downtown and all our photographers are busy.” The editor’s smarmy voice whined on the phone.

Cas’s stomach plummeted to his feet but this was his job. Just like Dean, he needed to work. “Of course, send me the address. “

“Thanks.” Zachariah hung up in his ear and a moment later, his cell phone chirped as he got the text. He left his kitchen to pack his camera equipment and in less than five minutes, he was heading out the door and getting into his car. He drove the Continental to the address Zachariah had given him but before he got there, he was aware of the sirens and the smoke in the air. He found a place to park a few blocks away and hiked his stuff in towards the fire. He was trying not to think about Dean being there but the closer he got, the harder that became. As he came onto the scene there were several fire trucks present and the place was crawling with ambulances, EMTS, and onlookers that were behind a barricade set up by the police. Flames licked out of the windows of what had once been a popular restaurant and black smoke rose up towards the sky. It was clear that the fire was out of control and the building crawled with men in yellow coats holding hoses and fighting the flames. The thought that his omega was part of that team was a little surreal.

Castiel felt sick as he pulled his camera out of the bag and started to take pictures of the building and the fire. He moved through the crowd, taking the time to get close-ups on the faces of the firefighters he could see. He never saw Dean. Despite how that thought twisted the nerves tight in his chest, he tried to push it aside and walked down the block, avoiding people and stopping every few feet to capture the fire from a new angle. He’d gotten towards the far end of the barricade when a mighty crash sounded and flames and smoke flowed out of the building in a sudden rush. People in the crowd screamed as the roof of the building collapsed in. Castiel nearly dropped his camera as his heart leapt in his throat. The firefighters buzzed around the building, some of them rushing out of the door as the roof came down. Had Dean been in there?

Castiel found he couldn’t take pictures anymore; he let his camera fall to the strap around his neck and pushed his way back through the crowd until he came to the firetruck nearest the corner of the building. He saw Charlie standing near the barricade and rushed to her side. “Please, Charlie, where’s Dean?” He grabbed her arm, startling her.

She turned wide blinking eyes on him. “Cas, what are you doing here?”

He nudged the camera. “The paper sent me. Please. Tell me where Dean is?” His heart was pounding fear through his blood and he couldn’t quiet it down.

She swallowed roughly, tears in her eyes. “He was inside… I… I don’t know where he is.”

It felt as if his blood froze solid. Castiel felt cold through his limbs and in the center of his chest. He’d always known that Dean’s job was dangerous and that they always lived on the edge of something terrible happening and now he was facing that very real possibility. “Oh god.” He whispered as he watched the yellow coated men redouble their efforts on the building. He could hear yelling but he couldn’t make out the voices. With numb fingers, Castiel picked up his camera and brought it to the eye as if on autopilot. He focused in tight to the firefighters he could see and used his zoom lens to bring the picture in tight to their faces. None of them were Dean. The view blurred and it took rapid blinking for Castiel to realize that he was crying. _Where the hell was Dean?_ Castiel kept searching, looking at each face as he blinked away tears.

It was then that a commotion near the door of the building drew his attention and three firefighters burst out of the door, smoking billowing around them. Two men on either side were clearly supporting and dragging out the third figure between them. Cas swung his camera to them, absently taking pictures of them as he zoomed in on their faces. He recognized one of them as Benny, who was a friend of Dean’s. It was then that he realized the man in the middle, covered in soot and sagging between the two other men, was Dean.

“There!” Castiel pointed to the three. “There’s Dean.” He started to climb the barricade.

“No! You can’t.” Charlie grabbed his arm and stopped him from rushing towards the fire and Dean. “You can’t go in there. Wait for them to bring Dean out.”

“But…. Dean!” Cas all but shouted over the noise of the fire.

Charlie’s eyes were hard and unyielding. “Hell no, Cas. I’m not letting a civilian cross this line.” As they argued several EMTS ran towards the three men with a gurney and as they watched, Dean was laid down on the stretcher and rushed back towards an ambulance.

“Please, Charlie. I love him.” Cas pleaded, blinking away another round of terrified tears.

Charlie stared at him for a long moment before she sighed and grabbed his arm. “Come on.” She lead him around the firetrucks and through the mess of hoses and equipment towards the ambulance. Ahead of them men buzzed around Dean, frantically shoving an oxygen mask on his face.

Cas thought he knew what fear was, but truly, he wasn’t ready for the terror of watching Dean being put on oxygen as he was forced out of his heavy yellow coat. Then, as he got close, he realized that Dean was struggling with them. His lips moved, insisting that he was fine. Cas didn’t know much about the type of injury Dean could have received but if he was awake, that was good, right? Charlie led him right to Dean’s side, getting several curious looks from the EMTs surrounding him.

“Dean!” He surged to Dean’s side, finding a small space between the medical personnel for himself.

Dean looked at him, clearly confused. “What the hell are you doing here, Cas?” His voice was muffled by the oxygen mask on his face. One of the EMTS was wrestling with Dean’s pants, trying to get them off.

“I got sent by the paper to take pictures. Dean, are you okay?” Cas grabbed Dean’s soot stained hand.

“I’m fine, Cas.” Dean said, rolling his eyes as he squeezed the alpha’s hands.

In that moment, the EMT got Dean’s boot off and the omega winced in pain. “I think it’s broken.”

Cas turned glaring eyes on Dean. “That’s not fine, Dean.”

Dean just shrugged. “The building fell on me. All told, that’s pretty damn good.”

Cas’s heart jumped into his throat again as the EMTS bundled the stretcher into the ambulance, forcing Cas to let go of Dean. “Please, where are you taking him?”

The EMT rolled his eyes but told Cas where they were taking Dean then closed the door on his omega, taking away Cas’s ability to see him. The moment Dean was out of eyesight, the panic came back, pounding between his chest and his stomach. He scurried back to his car, deciding that Zachariah could screw himself and that he didn’t care about the pictures. He ended up following the ambulance to the hospital; however, the staff of the hospital directed him to a waiting room while Dean was being examined by the doctor. It felt like years before they told him he could go back. The moment they did, Cas rushed to the little room where Dean was. He’d been cleaned up and much of the soot was gone from his face, however he was still wearing the oxygen mask.

Still, the omega gave him a tired and pained smile when he came in. “Hey Cas.”

Cas went straight to his side. “Hello Dean. How are you feeling?”

“They say my leg is broken in two places. I won’t be fighting anymore fires for a while.” Dean’s voice sounded disappointed.

Cas couldn’t help the relief he felt. Dean would be safe for a short time. “It’s okay, I’ll help you while you are healing.”

Dean grumbled as he tore his eyes away from Cas and to his lap. “You know I’ll go back to it, right? This won’t stop me from being a firefighter.”

Cas gave a deep sigh. “I know. It’s part of who you are and I love who you are.”

Dean gave him a hard look. “You look terrified.”

Cas nodded, feeling another tear break from the corner of his eye. “I am terrified. I saw that building collapse and I didn’t know where you were. I… I could have lost you forever. That’s scary, Dean.” As he spoke more emotion entered his voice until the final words came out around a sob.

Dean pulled him into his arms and held him. “I’m right here, Alpha.”

“I know.” Cas said, trying once more to blink away tears. He didn’t want to be the one needing comfort; his omega was the one who was hurt. “I know, Dean.” He leaned back to look at Dean, then leaned over to press a kiss against his forehead. “I love you so much, Dean.”

Dean ran his fingers through Cas’s hair. “I know, Alpha. I love you too. We’ll get through this, right?”

Cas caught his hands and brought his fingers to his lips, kissing them one at a time. “Of course we will. I love you too much to ever let you go.”

Dean looked up at him with eyes full of warmth, then sighed heavily. “I can’t kiss you with this thing on my face.”

Cas chuckled. “You need it. I’ll wait for your kiss however long I need to.” Seeing Dean’s distress and his weakness reasserted his own strength. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart, they’d had a scare but were okay now. He could do that for his omega.

There was a clearing throat from the door and a nurse stepped into the room. “We need to take him to surgery now, Sir.”

Cas looked to Dean and kissed his forehead once more. “I’ll be here when you get out.”

Dean nodded and reached up to touch Cas’s cheek. “I love you, Cas.”

“I love you, Dean.” Cas said, petting his fingers through his omega’s hair before stepping away from Dean’s bed. He stood in the corner as he watched the hospital staff take him away. He sighed out loud after Dean was gone and took a chair in the corner, where he’d wait for his omega to return. He stared at the floor, knowing that like smoke, Dean could have been gone so he sat back and thanked the universe that he wasn’t, that he had yet another day to love and cherish his omega.


End file.
